Survey: Wired world to be boon, bane for Generation Y

By staff and wire services reports

February 29th, 2012

There is a good chance young people growing up in today’s always-wired world will eventually become bright, nimble decision makers-if they don’t wind up intellectual lightweights unable to concentrate long enough to chew over a good book, Reuters reports. So say 1,021 technology insiders, critics and students surveyed by the Pew Research Center who were fairly evenly split about how always-on technology will impact the teenagers and twenty-somethings of “Generation Y.” In the survey, released on Wednesday, 55 percent agreed with a statement that in 2020 the brains of young people would be “wired” differently from those over 35, with good results for finding answers quickly and without shortcomings in their mental processes. But 42 percent were pessimistic, agreeing with a second statement that in 2020 young technology users would be easily distracted, would lack deep thinking skills and would thirst only for instant gratification…